PushON Explains: What Does EEAT Stand For?

Introduction

EAT has been around for a while, and now the newly coined EEAT has entered. Google continues refining its search algorithms with helpful and unhelpful content updates, so understanding and optimising EEAT has become essential for website owners and digital marketers aiming to write effective content for their websites.

In this article, we’ll examine each component of EEAT and provide some actionable steps for enhancing your website’s EEAT.

Sections in this guide:

Providing a great user experience and focusing on people first content, is at the heart of the Google EEATS framework

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness pertains to the credibility and reputation of the content creator, website, and the content itself. Is your site or the author seen as an authority figure who is a go-to source for knowledge in this area? For example, a government site will be considered an authority on information about visas or visiting certain countries.

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness focuses on the reliability and integrity of your website and its content. All the other pillars of EEAT somewhat feed into the overall trust of your content or website, but other aspects can also impact this. Does your site have a security certificate? Do you include the most up-to-date contact information? These signals help users (and Google) understand whether your site is safe to visit.

History and Evolution of EEAT – Where Did EEAT Come From?

EEAT has been at the forefront of Google’s mind for years, from the first Panda update in 2011 and the May 2015 Quality update to the more recent August Core Update (2018) and the August Core Update (2024). After the August 2018 update, SEOs worldwide noticed Google’s preference for content that demonstrated higher expertise, authority, and trust, which led to them coining the term EAT.

Experience was added in 2022, which fleshed out the concept of EEAT.

Importance for User Trust and Engagement – Why EEAT Matters

EEAT has greatly impacted user trust and engagement over the years. Users are more likely to interact and engage with your site if the content is seen to be well-researched, authoritative, and reliable.

For comparison, high EEAT content is characterised as being thoroughly researched, using credible resources, and offering clear and concise information to readers. The author of the content is also shown to be an expert on the topic, and the site it sits on is secure.
Low EEAT content, on the other hand, will need more depth, contain inaccuracies, and lack credibility. It will either be missing an author or have a generic “brand name” author instead, and the site will look unreliable.

Section 2: Experience

Experience refers to the practical knowledge and skills gained through direct involvement or exposure to something. You demonstrate that you’ve been somewhere or done something and are now using your insights to inform others about that thing.

Experience has been added to EEAT because Google updated its quality rater guidelines to help human content creators communicate with their users. This is all to protect users from the rise of generative AI and LLMs. By requiring writers to demonstrate their experience with their chosen topic, Google ensures that users will always be served the most reliable content.

How to Show Experience

I will use one of Google’s examples in their search quality guidelines for this. Your Money Your Life topics are one of the main areas where experience crosses over with expertise, which can become a murky grey area if done incorrectly.

Did you know?

The acronym YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life”, a term used to describe content that can directly impact user’s lives, including health, financial stability, safety, or well-being.

For example, say you have a blog covering “Sleep challenges when pregnant”. Valuable sharing of life experience would look like this:

If the page’s author is either pregnant or has been pregnant in the past and has documented their pregnancy throughout the blog, then they’ll be seen as having relevant experience in Google’s eyes.

Section 3: Expertise

What is Expertise?

Expertise refers to your knowledge, skills, and credentials that are viewed alongside your written content. For example, if you’re writing an article on different allergies and have had it medically reviewed by a doctor, it’ll be viewed as having relevant expertise behind the content.

The expertise required to create quality content depends on the page’s topic and purpose. For example, if someone wants to compare a Citroen and a Toyota car, you might read some articles from Auto Trader (Expertise). Still, you might also find forums like Reddit (Experience) helpful in answering your queries.

How Do I Show My Expertise

There are a few ways to demonstrate expertise with your content, I’ve outlined three:

3. Regularly Updating Content to Reflect Current Knowledge

Keep your content up to date by regularly reviewing and updating it to reflect your industry’s latest information and trends. This demonstrates your commitment to providing accurate and current information. For example, if you’re tracking Google updates, keeping that article updated whenever a new one goes live would be beneficial.

Section 4: Authoritativeness

What is Authoritativeness?

Authoritativeness refers to you or your site’s reputation as a reliable source. Suppose you have a specific focus area or topic. In that case, you’ve written countless articles and conducted multiple studies, and people are linking to and mentioning you in their content, you would be seen as an authoritative figure.

How to Build Authoritativeness

Building authority isn’t easy but here are 3 examples of how you might do that;

1. Earning Backlinks from Reputable Sources

Earn backlinks from reputable sources in your industry to build authoritativeness. Focus on creating high-quality content that others will want to link to. This could be a new study you’ve just completed or a thought piece about a specific topic within your industry. The more linkable the content, the more interest you might receive.

2. Link to Reputable Sources

When writing your content, making it so you can gain links from others is one thing. However, you can also link to reputable sources that help back up any statement you’re trying to make, whether you’ve mentioned a specific study that showed some promising results or seen a post from an expert in your field with a helpful quote. This will show Google that you’ve been conducting the relevant research for your content.

3. Interacting with Online Communities

Your site can benefit from actively participating in digital forums, discussion boards, or industry-specific online groups. By sharing valuable insights or offering expert advice, you can slowly establish yourself as a respected voice in your field.
While this can help drive traffic to your site, it also helps create an industry network. This could increase brand recognition and potential backlink opportunities in the long term.

Section 5: Trust

What is Trustworthiness?

Trustworthiness refers to the reliability and integrity of your website and content. It is essential for building user trust and ensuring long-term success. If your site is seen as a risk to visitors, then you won’t see much in rankings. That’s why looking at trust signals, including HTTPS and site security, is important.

Conclusion

In conclusion, EEAT has become an important part of the day-to-day lives of marketers and website owners. Over the past 12-18 months, there has been a major shift in website rankings thanks to a selection of Google updates, all of which have focused on helpful and unhelpful content. Websites with strong EEAT have seen strong gains, whilst those with low EEAT have dropped off the face of the SERPs. So, looking at the current landscape, it would be beneficial for your website to focus on these four pillars, as this could unlock additional avenues for you.
If you are struggling with your content or your website’s overall EEAT, contact PushON’s team of SEO experts.

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